Floor securing means



Sept. 3, 1968 J. A. K. KRUG, JR 3,399,635

FLOOR SECURING MEANS Filed Nov. 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 QM; 904m- GW vm, l VW SFN', u fu\\ Sept. 3, 1968 1 A. K. KRUG, JR

FLOOR SECUR ING MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 4. 1966 kyk United States Patent Office 3,399,636 Patented Sept. 3, 1968 3,399,636 FLOOR SECURING MEANS John A. K. Krug, Jr., St. Charles, Mo., assignor to ACF Industries, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Nov. 4, 1966, Ser. No. 592,135 2 Claims. (Cl. 10S-422) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to means for securing iloor boards to supporting stringers in an insulated box car and to the method of forming the oor structure for receiving an insulating foam material. The present invention provides floor securing means for an insulated railway car in which `a suboorin-g is held in position by the means securing the floor boards. The securing means comprising a plate extending beneath each stringer at an angle of around 45 with respect to the longitudinal axis of the Stringer and having a bolt receiving elongate slot adjacent each end thereof positioned outwardly of the associated stringer thereby to secure two adjoining oor boards. The bolts extend through openings in the oor boards and subooring with the elongate slots providing a tolerance thereby to minimize any alignment problems.

Background and description of the invention Floor boards are normally secured in position by oor clips which lit beneath the upper iiange of the supporting stringer. However, when insulated box cars are employed, insulating material is normally positioned in the void space immediately below the floor boards between the stringers. It is necessary to provide a subooring or support panel between the stringers when in-place -foam material, such as a polyurethane foam, is employed in order to provide an enclosure for the -foam material. -It is desirable to place the subilooring in position before the oor boards and thus, access to the underside of the floor boards for securing floor clips to the upper anges of the stringers is prevented.

It is an object of the present invention to provide floor securing means for the floor boards of an insulated railway car in which an in-place foam material is employed in the area between the stringers.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such securing means for both the floor boards and subflooring of an insulated railway car in 'which an expanding foam material is placed between the iloor boards and subooring.

An additional object is the provision of such securing means for the floor boards of an insulated railway car in which a minimum number of securing means is employed.

The invention accordingly comprises the constructions hereinafter described, the scope of the invention being indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which one of various possible embodiments f the invention is illustrated,

FIGURE l is a partial transverse section of an insulated railway box car illustrating the insulated floor structure;

FIGURE 2 is 'an enlarged fragment of FIGURE 1 illustrating the oor securing means comprising the present invention;

FIGURE 3 is a partial longitudinal section illustrating the oor securing means in elevation; and

FIGURE 4 is a bottom plan of the iloor securing means shown in FIGURE 3.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings for a better understanding of this invention, a portion of an insulated railway box car indicated generally at 10 is illustrated in FIGURE 1. Box car -10 includes a pair of spaced Z-shaped fixed center sills 11 and a sliding hat-shaped center sill 12. Cross bearers 14 extend between fixed sills 11 and side sills 16. Cross beams 17 beneath sliding sill 12 connect adjacent cross bearers 14. Stringers 18 are supported on the upper flanges of cross bearers 14 and extend longitudinally of the railway car. sWooden spacers 20 extend longitudinally of the railway car. The sides of insulated box car 10 have a rigid foam insulation 22 positioned adjacent side panels 24.

A plurality of interiitting wooden floor boards extend transversely of the car with alternate floor boards indicated 26 and intervening oor boards indicated at 28. Each stringer 18 is formed of an I beam having a vertical web 30, an integral upper ilange 32, and an integral lower ange 34. Floor boards 26, 28 are supported on Spacers 20 and the upper flanges 32 of stringers 18. To provide an enclosure for an expanding foam material, such as a polyurethane foam material which forms the insulation for the box car floor, a subiiooring is formed of a plurality of plywood panels 36 supported on the upper surfaces of lower flanges 34. Floor boards 26, 28 have predrilled openings 38 to receive bolts 40 having countersunk heads 42. After floor boards 26, 28 and panels 36 are positioned, openings 44 are drilled in panels 36 in alignment with openings 38. Then, bolts 40 are inserted 'within aligned openings 38 and `44.

A connecting elongate plate 46 extends beneath stringers 18 at an angle of around forty-five (45) degrees with respect to the longitudinal axis of floor boards 26, 28 and thereby spans across a pair of adjacent lioor boards 26, 28 as shown in FIGURE 4. An elongate slot 48 adjacent each end of plate 46 is positioned outwardly of lower flange 34 in position to receive bolts 40. Elongate slots 48 permit openings 38 in floor boards 26, 28 to be predrilled without any alignment problems. Nuts 50 are threaded on the ends of bolts 40 to secure iloor boards 26, 28 and panels 36 in position. The expanding foam material may be discharged within the void space formed between floor boards 26, 28 and panels 36. The foam material fills the void areas and when cured for a few hours forms a rigid foam material indicated at 52. The foam material may be discharged into the void areas through relatively small cutouts which are later plugged. Spacers 20 also form enclosures with stringers 18 to receive the foam material.

From the foregoing, it is to be understood that the floor structure may be easily formed in a plurality of steps to provide an enclosure for receiving the expanding foam material. The oor securing means for the insulated box car secures both the floor boards and the subooring required for the insulating material. The securing means is easily positioned with each securing means adapted to secure a pair of adjoining floor boards.

In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results obtained.

As various changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. In an insulated railway box car, a plurality of spaced, parallel stringers extending longitudinally of the car, each of said stringers including a vertical web and upper and lower horizontal llanges, a plurality of floor boards eX- tending transversely of the car over the upper anges of 3 the stringers to form a oor, a lower pane extending between the lower flanges 0f adjacent stringers and supported on the upper surface of said lower flanges, an insulating material between the lower panel and the oor boards, a plurality of elongate connecting plates extending beneath and across the lower ange of each Stringer, each elongate connecting plate extending beneath a pair of adjoining floor boards and having an opening adjacent each end thereof positionedv outwardly of said lower ange and beneath one of the adjoining floor boards, a bolt extending downwardly through each adjoining floor board and said lower panel to a position below the adjacent stringer and through the associated subjacent opening in said plate, the bolt for one adjoining oor Vboard being on one side of the associated Stringer and the bolt for the other adjoining floor board being on the other side of the associated Stringer, and means adjacent the end of each bolt to secure said plate in position thereby to seeure said door boards and lower panel. U

2. In an insulated railway box car as set forth in claim 1, the openings in said elongate connecting plates being elongate slots for receiving said bolts, said elongate connecting plates extending at an `angle of around forty-five degrees with respect to the longitudinal axis of the floor boards.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,413,839 4/1922 Eldredge 239-4 2,100,323 1l/1937 Fitch 296--28.2 2,429,182 10/1947 Doke 105--422 2,543,402 2/1951 Doke 10S-422 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner. 

